There's Plastic In Your Vegetables

Plastic is both a godsend and a nightmare when you consider its many uses. There are countless plastic perks, explains Susan Freinkel, author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story: it allows for lighter-weight car parts that boost gas mileage and lower a vehicle's carbon footprint; computer housings; and even disposable syringes that make it possible to draw blood without spreading infectious diseases. Even polystyrene, aka Styrofoam, has an upside. "It's a fantastic insulator and very long lasting," Freinkel says. "So that's a great material when used in a house, where it's going conserve energy for decades, but not so great when used in a cup to keep coffee hot for 15 minutes."

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However, when we use plastic for unnecessary conveniences, we're putting not just the planet, but also ourselves, in peril. Here are six freaky places plastic lurks and does damage:

1. The Great Lakes. Plastic microbeads are added to facial scrubs and other personal care products for exfoliating purposes. "The fact that we wash our faces with plastic bits that are designed to go down the drain, where they will almost inevitably end up in waterways, to persist for centuries, is emblematic of the carelessness with which we use plastics," Freinkel says. "Plastic can be great stuff, but all too often it gets used in stupid ways that are designed for our convenience, but with no attention to the costs of that convenience." Tracking the research, Freinkel found that a 4.2-ounce tube of a leading facial cleanser contains 356,000 plastic microbeads. That helps explain why scientists recently discovered as many as 450,000 bits per square kilometer—a record-breaking number—when sampling water from the Great Lakes.

Steer clear: Make your own nontoxic exfoliator. Mix ½ cup of aloe with just enough brown sugar or baking soda to create a gritty but not sharp texture.

2. Your veggies. Plastic is a go-to component on many vegetable farms, used in cheap, lightweight plastic greenhouses. Recent testing in China found that leafy greens grown in plastic-film greenhouses were more likely to contain higher levels of phthalates, hormone-disrupting chemicals linked to weight gain and behavioral problems. Greenhouse plastics are often coated in phthalates to extend the life of the plastic by protecting it from sun damage.

Steer clear: Ask your farmer if he or she uses lots of plastic in the farm's veggie production. Alternatively, grow your own vegetables without plastic, and then can or freeze the extras in glass canning jars to enjoy after the growing season.

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3. Food containers. A 2012 study appearing in Environmental Health Perspectives found men with the highest concentrations of certain phthalates, common plastic ingredients, had significantly lower free androgens and healthy reproductive hormones compared to men with the lowest levels.

More reason for men to veto plastic? A University of Chicago study released in June 2013 found that early exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a common chemical used in polycarbonate water bottles, mimics estrogen in the body and could sensitize prostate stem cells in a way that promotes prostate cancer later in life.

Steer clear: Opt for food-grade stainless steel or glass water bottles, and never heat plastics in the microwave or dishwasher. The higher temps could accelerate leaching of other harmful plastic chemicals that could throw your hormones into an unhealthy frenzy.

4. Drinking water. Yup, there's a downside to those convenient plastic bottles. A recent German study published in the journal PLOS One detected nearly 25,000 chemicals in bottled water, finding that some inhibited estrogenic activity by 60% and androgenic activity by 90%. (The latter hormonal effect is on par with the prostate cancer drug flutamide.)

The researchers also detected particularly potent chemicals known as maleates and fumarates, compounds used to manufacture the form of plastic resin used in plastic water bottles.

Steer clear: Opt for tap water. As far as regulations go, community or municipal tap water requires much more stringent, regular testing than bottled water.

5. Freshwater critters. A recent study looking at an Italian lake and published in the journal Current Biology found that plastic pollution isn't just a problem for ocean critters like sea turtles. They found water fleas and even worms are eating microplastic pollution. Since plastic readily absorbs other toxic pollutants in the water, "plastic debris can act as vector for alien species and diseases," the study's author writes.

Steer clear: The study authors said that based on the size of the plastic particles recovered inside the freshwater critters, the particles most likely originated from plastic people throw away. Stop using plastic bags, and instead use reusable cloth and washable totes and bags. Find a high-quality stainless steel coffee mug instead of buying coffee in a disposable cup every morning, and buy fewer personal products in general, since many are packaged in plastic—and even contain harmful plasticizing ingredients.

6. Processed foods. Plastic chemicals could be fueling adult diseases in kids. According to a May 2013 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, we can partially blame the odorless, colorless plastic additives known as phthalates for rising blood pressure rates in children and teenagers. Phthalates readily leach from food containers and mix with food, meaning there's more to worry about than just calories when it comes to a child's diet.

Steer clear: Cut back as much as possible on processed foods. Try to cook whole foods from scratch as much as possible. And avoid the fad bubble tea drinks—the tapioca-like pearls in the drink are thought to harbor phthalate chemicals.

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